Ubiquiti Amplifi HD Router Wins the Home Mesh Network Game

Small enough to fit practically anywhere, but that LED ring is bright! (Photo by Anthony Karcz)

A week or so into my test of the Luma router, I started to field complaints from the home office (i.e. my wife and kids) about the speed or reliability of the network. I tried changing how devices were assigned to profiles. Then I changed how filtering was handled. Then I turned off filtering altogether. Each would work for a little while, then something would get in the way and we’d be looking at slowdowns again (although, at least one time, the slowdown could be attributed to my wife unplugging one of the mesh devices). I realized that, while the Luma’s broad focus was appealing, combining mesh networking, content filtering, and security in one package meant there were even more points of failure I had to diagnose. In the end, I punted back to my old Airport Extreme and enjoyed the simplicity of a “dumb” network.

Of course, the Airport Extreme had its own set of issues. It seriously hates my TiVo Bolt and its MOCA network (I guess it wants to the be the only game in town when it comes to serving up a signal). Then there’s the Airport Utility app, which used to be unique and far better than any other maintenance solution among routers. Now it shows every bit of its age, frequently failing to find my hardware on the first or second attempt, then dumping me into a maintenance screen where, yes, I have access to all my router settings; but it’s frustratingly cryptic (unless you work on wireless networks for a living). Not to mention I only had reliable Wi-Fi in three rooms of the house closest to the router, the master bedroom was a wireless wasteland.

TL;DR – My home Wi-Fi still needed help.

That’s why, when Ubiquiti Networks offered to send over their Amplifi HD system, I jumped at the chance. They have been in the professional wireless network game for over a decade and the Amplifi family of routers is the first home networking product from their new Ubiquiti Labs consumer division.

Ubiquiti has taken their cue from Apple when it comes to packaging. Out of the box, the Amplifi HD has that Cupertino feel. Everything is secure and placed, bento-style, in the box. As you unbox each component, the finish and heft convey quality.

Setup takes ten minutes. No, really. Once you plug in the base router, it prompts you to download the Amplifi app from the unit’s touchscreen (more on that in a minute). Once the app finds the router, it walks you through setup and gets your network up and running. Then it’s a matter of plugging in the mesh points around your home and adjusting their antennas so that they receive a solid signal (you can check in the app or just use the LEDs on the front of the antennas). Here I did miss Luma’s floor plan placement recommendations; but as long as you don’t set the mesh points up so that they’re in line with each other, you should be just fine.

The mesh point hardware for the Amplifi HD is higher powered and supports 802.11ac (Photo by Anthony Karcz)

After that, there’s little that you need to worry about. The antennas are held in place by a powerful magnet on a omni-directional base, convenient for repositioning and for those occasions when they get bumped into. You can also poke through the screens on the base router to see various network metrics. I quickly became addicted to the upload and download speed screen.

The real action once you’ve set up your network is in the Amplifi app. From here you can run quick diagnoses of your network, conduct a speed test, adjust the LED brightness for the base (or turn it off if you don’t want it), and check to see what devices are connected to which access point on your network. You can also enable a time and user-limited Guest network (though I wish I could set if for multiple days and not just 24 hours). My one wish is that I could move devices to other mesh points manually. My phone will occasionally stay connected to my Living Room mesh point even when I’m in the bedroom. They’re physically pretty close, so I understand why it’s happening; but an option to override the network’s decision would be helpful.

Do I miss the content monitoring? I happen to have a Circle with Disney on my network that does a much more robust job of age-gating content, so I didn’t. Would I if I didn’t have the Circle? Maybe? The pre-release Luma I was testing didn’t give me enough granular content information to be able to determine if it was blocking sites, so I just don’t know. Is my network less secure now that I don’t have the active security features of the Luma? Again, I don’t know – security was a black box on the Luma (something that can easily be fixed with future software iterations), so what I was being protected from was a mystery.

What I do know is that the Amplifi has served up a rock-solid network since I plugged it in. The only downtime has been when we had power outages or it needed OTA firmware updates. It’s eliminated all the dead spots in my house and has transformed my Wi-Fi network from a persistent trouble point (in my role as Chief IT Officer for my house) into something I don’t even think about. The router packages come in three different flavors – the Amplifi and Amplifi LR (which uses a more powerful radio signal to extend its range) both are shipping as of August 1 and can be purchased directly from the Amplifi website for $199 and $299, respectively. The HD version that I tested out, which boasts the most powerful signal and 802.11ac capability on the router base and mesh points, will ship in September for $349. They’re not inexpensive; but the headache they save and the professional-grade networking they give you are well worth the premium.

Ubiquiti Networks supplied an Amplifi HD for this review. Opinions are my own.

Related

Father of two, runner, Marvel-phile, recovered WoW addict, and unrepentant Generation 1 Transformers nerd (seriously, I know more about G1 than is healthy). Author of the superhero novel: 'Nightingale: The League Cycle, Book One.' In addition to writing for GeekDad, you can find Anthony on Forbes.com, Book Riot, and SyFy.com.

27 Responses to Ubiquiti Amplifi HD Router Wins the Home Mesh Network Game

How are the advanced settings for power users? I just got my Luma and even though they’ve promised updates, I think this thing is going back in the box. From what I’ve seen there is absolutely zero adjusting anything other than “filter settings.” I didn’t expect DD-WRT or tomato levels of adjustment, but this thing has zero!

I figured something from a company like Ubiquiti will have tons of settings for power users, so I may go with this instead.

Honestly, there’s not a lot there yet for Advanced users. You can, at least, assign static leases to devices – an improvement over Luma. That said, Ubiquiti has been in the biz for a long time, I fully expect them to open the barn door wider once they get past their initial rollout.

At the moment, no there’s not. If you’d like filtering and parental control, I’d go with the Luma router instead. As far as the rest – it’s possible they could enable it in future updates; but AmpliFi is meant more for those who don’t know what those things even do. 🙂

Just set up my 3-pack Eero system. A little flub in the setup, but it’s running. A little more feature light than I had hoped for. Ordered Luma in December and wouldn’t you know, it arrived the day after I installed Eero.

With all the complaints I’m not even sure I’m taking Luma out of the box. They’ve already refunded my money, I cancelled before it arrived. They told me they couldn’t cancel the shipment. They said keep it if I want and they’ll still honor the discount price.

If I were starting fresh today I would probably wait a little and see how AmplifiHD is after it rolls out. Luma may just be too late to the game with Ubiquiti and D-Link moving into the Mesh Network arena.

when I pre-ordered my HD I wrote to support. I thought that I would order an extra HD package. this would supply two additional mesh units and give me a spare back up router in case of failure. Support replied that that was not possible. the additional mesh units they will sell in the future will be different in some manner than the packaged mesh additions. It would not be possible to attach the extra two mesh units from the extra HD if I ordered two packages.

I intend to connect an Apple time machine (for backing up stuff only) to the base router (likely placed on upstairs living room). However, my macbook pro is downstairs which will likely be connected to a ‘mesh point’ at the lower level. So the question is, will time machine be able to perform backup in this setting?

That’s a great question – I’ve been meaning to hook a spare SSD up to the router for exactly this purpose since I did the same on my Airport Extreme. Theoretically, it should work! Let me know how it turns out!

Have you run speed tests at the base station, and at each antenna? Someone posted that this is not really a mesh network at all, but simply a router with two radio repeaters, and thus at each antenna “repeater”, the speed is always half of what it is at the router base station???

Since even the base system says that it is for a 10k sq ft home, for me the big difference is that the mesh nodes for the base and LR don’t have 802.11ac, so the deciding question for me is how important ac is for the whole house.

Does ti do connection management by device or group? meaning can I have it close the internet connection for a group of devices (the kids iPads, iPod Touches, chromebooks, etc.) so that, say, they can’t connect to the internet between 9pm and 7am on weeknights? or something like that?

Very strongly leaning towards this, but also looking at the new mesh option from Netgear…

How did you get your Circle connected to the Amplifi? I have been working with customer support from both companies and can figure out how to connect the two. The Circle will not pair with the Amplifi HD. Would love to know if you had to tweak any settings other than separate SSID

Sorry, Phil; but I don’t have much technical advice. They just worked together without me fussing with settings. Is your Circle still holding on to your old network’s settings? I’d try a factory restore if nothing else works. 🙁

Support GeekDad

If you don’t want to create a Patreon account to support GeekDad, you can do so here! You can choose to make your contribution reoccurring or single.

5

Backers

$23.00

raised

Choose An Amount

$ Make this donation

$1.00

For every person who supports us at the $1 a month level, we'll add your name to the patrons list on our blog and give you the thanks you deserve!

$2.50

You are an awesome patron, and you're going above the call of duty. We'll put your name on the patron rolls, and if you drop us your Twitter handle, you'll get a shout-out!

$5.00

You'll be recognized as a Golden Patron, with a special call-out on our siderail, and invitations to any GeekDad events in your area. Drop us your Twitter handle, and we'll send you a shout-out.

$10.00

You are an Associate Publisher on the blog, and get your name specially featured in the Masthead. Send us your Twitter handle and you'll get a huge thanks and a follow!

$20.00

You're a Platinum Patron! You are an amazing supportive person, and we love you! You're name goes on the Masthead, and we'll follow you on Twitter and thank you so much.!

None

About GeekDad

GeekDad® is a parenting, technology, and culture blog staffed by a diverse team of contributors, working together to inform, educate, and entertain parents everywhere who have a geeky nature and want to raise their kids the same way.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy